Scam alert: Experts warn of phony calls to steal money

Donny Claxton woke up late Wednesday night when his cell phone was ringing.
"My phone starts ringing and at that hour of the night, you are alarmed at who is calling you," said Claxton.
What alarmed him more was when he looked at his phone to see who was calling. It was his own phone number.
"I look at the phone, and it's me and I am looking. How am I calling myself? And I look at my phone. and there is no one there. and then it hangs up,"
He stayed on the line for 9 seconds. We asked the...

Author:
Rebecca Lopez , WFAA

Published:
5:39 AM EDT September 22, 2017

Updated:
5:39 AM EDT September 22, 2017

Donny Claxton woke up late Wednesday night when his cell phone was ringing.

"My phone starts ringing and at that hour of the night, you are alarmed at who is calling you," said Claxton.

What alarmed him more was when he looked at his phone to see who was calling. It was his own phone number.

"I look at the phone, and it's me and I am looking. How am I calling myself? And I look at my phone. and there is no one there. and then it hangs up,"

He stayed on the line for 9 seconds. We asked the Better Business Bureau about what was happening. They say spammers are spoofing numbers.

"Spoofing is when someone who shouldn't have it will take a computer program that will disguise a telephone number, and you will get a phone call from what it looks like yourself," said Phylissia Landix with the BBB.

So, why are they doing this? Money, says the BBB. They say when you answer your phone, scammers have technology that is able to insert fraudulent charges on your telephone bill.

"The longer time you spend on that phone the greater chances they can get something done and insert the fraudulent charge," said Landix.

The BBB says check your phone bill to make sure no charges have been added, but the best advice is don't answer calls from weird or unknown numbers including your own.